Today's Irish Times carries a report from Harry McGee on last night's Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting, where at least 15 TDs voiced their opposition to abortion legislation.
This is a welcome development for pro-life voters around the country who voted for Fine Gael in General Election 2011 because of their commitment not to legislate for abortion or experimentation on human embryos.
The discussion on abortion came at the end of a presentation by Minister for Health, Dr. James Reilly, on the HSE, when Waterford TD John Deasy raised the matter.
The article says that "Concerns had been raised within Fine Gael in recent weeks that the Cabinet would make a decision on the report of the expert group, chaired by High Court judge Seán Ryan, and present it to Fine Gael as a 'done deal'."
In the discussion at the parliamentary party meeting, 15 TDs said that they would oppose legislation that would introduce abortion, insisting that the findings of the expert group be discussed with them before being brought to the Cabinet. Two TDs even indicated that they were willing to break whip on the issue.
One of the TDs described the Fine Gael parliamentary party as "overwhelmingly opposed to liberalisation of the abortion laws".
The discussion resulted in Dr. Reilly giving a guarantee that he would consult the parliamentary party before bringing the findings of the expert group to the Cabinet.
Read Harry McGee's report in full here.
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